KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said West Bengal had suffered losses of more than Rs 1 lakh crore due to super cyclonic storm ‘Amphan’, which has killed 80 people and left thousands homeless in the state.
After conducting an aerial survey of some of the affected areas and attending a review meeting along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district, she said there was a need to work together at this hour of crisis.
“Most of the areas we surveyed were totally ravaged. I have briefed the Prime Minister in detail about the post-cyclone situation in the state,” she told reporters at the airport after seeing off Modi.
The Prime Minister announced an advance interim assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for the state after the meeting.
“The Prime Minister has announced Rs 1,000 crore emergency fund… What’s the package I don’t know. I have told him that we will give him the details. It will take some time to assess the overall situation but damage is of more than Rs 1 lakh crore,” she said.
Mamata said she “reminded the prime minister about Rs 53,000 crore the central government owes to the state for various social security schemes.”
“If they (Centre) give some money to us, we can work,” she said.
The Chief Minister said she showed Modi some photographs capturing the havoc caused by ‘Amphan’ in Kolkata.
Lakhs of people were rendered homeless as cyclone Amphan cut a path of destruction through half a dozen districts of West Bengal, including state capital Kolkata, on Wednesday night, blowing away shanties, uprooting thousands of trees besides swamping low-lying areas.
Although electricity and the mobile connection was restored in some parts of the state capital and North and South 24 Parganas, large parts of the city continued to remain without electricity as power poles had been blown away and communication lines snapped.
Cyclone Amphan is the strongest to hit the region in nearly two decades. It has battered several parts of the state, washing away bridges and swamping low-lying areas.
Seven districts badly hit are South 24 Paraganas, North 24 Paraganas, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly and Kolkata.